Both U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito reported Friday that the Mountain Valley Pipeline had received its final permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow for construction to be completed.
Manchin said the approval of the Sec. 404 permit was great news for West Virginia and the nation.
“The Mountain Valley Pipeline is essential to ensuring our nation’s energy and national security and providing affordable, reliable natural gas to hundreds of thousands of Americans,” Manchin said. “I am proud to have secured Mountain Valley’s approval in the recent debt ceiling legislation and am pleased to see the administration following the law and approving this vital project.”
Capito voiced her approval on social media.
“GOOD NEWS: The Mountain Valley Pipeline is set to receive its final Sec. 404 permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers!” Capito tweeted. “This critical step forward is because of a provision I helped include in the Fiscal Responsibility Act that will expedite the MVP’s completion.”
The $6.6 billion pipeline project first got authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in 2017, but its completion has been delayed by regulatory hurdles and court challenges.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline is a proposed 303.5-mile interstate natural gas pipeline that would cross nine West Virginia counties to transport natural gas to East Coast markets.
The pipeline’s developers have said they intend to bring the pipeline into service in the second half of 2023.
The developers have said the pipeline’s construction is near completion, but it has faced multiple legal challenges to its permits, such as authorization to construct in the Jefferson National Forest.
Manchin went on a little victory tour three weeks ago following the passage of debt-ceiling legislation that included permitting reform.
The section of the debt ceiling law dealing with the pipeline says, “The Congress hereby finds and declares that the timely completion of construction and operation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline is required in the national interest.”
Manchin said Friday, “The construction of this pipeline has been caught up in America’s broken permitting process for far too long, and I look forward to the day this important piece of energy infrastructure is
up-and-running.”
